Wow, it's been twenty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. It hardly seems possible. I remember it vividly from viewing daily TV newscasts and listening to Deutsche Welle on my shortwave radio.
I have been in Berlin many times. My first visit to Berlin was three years after the first improvised wall went up. Over the years the wall was modified and fortified and became an icon on the front line of the Cold War.
Getting to know Berlin was part of my coming-of-age. At the time of the first visit I was young, living in Europe for the first time, and traveling on my own. It was an exciting time. There was the big, vibrant city and the thrill of danger associated with being so near the Communist "enemy," and isolated inside a Communist country.
Nowadays the city is a lot different. If one is observant, one can find traces of the old division and differences. But I think to a newcomer to the city those would not be readily apparent.
When I was younger those twenty-eight years of division seemed like a very long time. Now the span of time since that division ended is not much shorter. More and more I realize how our lives are mere blips on the radar of history.
Nowadays the city is a lot different. If one is observant, one can find traces of the old division and differences. But I think to a newcomer to the city those would not be readily apparent.
When I was younger those twenty-eight years of division seemed like a very long time. Now the span of time since that division ended is not much shorter. More and more I realize how our lives are mere blips on the radar of history.
2 comments:
Yes, I remember the Berlin Wall too, and when we went thru Check Point Charlie. It was 28 yrs ago, 8yrs. before the wall came down. What a gloomy array of buildings greeted us on the other side. I guess what I remember most were the guards at the gate, on roller beds,searching for hidden weapons under the automobiles. And "trying" to declare all the coins I had in my possession.
Yes, I remember that being especially unnerving for you.
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